A Moving Letter Between Medieval Friends

A version of these remarks were shared at the What Moves You? event in the 222’s Moss Sculpture Garden in Healdsburg CA on Easter Wednesday, April 8, 2026 What Moves You? is a contemplative experience of shared spiritual reflection upon a sacred text. What Moves You? I am moved by the liturgical calendar! The Liturgical Calendar is […]

Seven “First” Words

Readings for Easter Sunday (Year A) This sermon was preached at Christ Episcopal Church in Eureka CA on April 5, 2026. Alleluia! Christ is risen! The Lord is risen indeed! Alleluia! There’s a popular Good Friday service called the “Seven Last Words” which includes meditations and musical reflections on the last words and phrases spoken by Jesus […]

“Come, Dervishes: Here is the Water of Life”

Sermon begins at 35:55 Readings for the Easter Vigil (Year A) Exodus 14:10-31; 15:20-21 [Israel’s deliverance at the Red Sea] Proverbs 8:1-8, 19-21; 9:4b-6 [Learn wisdom and live]Isaiah 55:1-11 [Salvation offered freely to all] Romans 6:3-11Psalm 114Matthew 28:1-10 This sermon was preached at Christ Episcopal Church in Eureka CA at the Great Vigil of Easter on April […]

The Cross and the Wolf Within

Readings for Good Friday Isaiah 52:13 – 53:12 Psalm 22 Hebrews 4:14-16; 5:7-9 John 18:1 – 19:42 This sermon was preached on Good Friday at Christ Episcopal Church in Eureka CA on April 3, 2026. About 800 years ago, the people in the Italian city of Gubbio were being terrorized by a fierce wolf who was not […]

St. Francis and Sister Death

Readings for the Fifth Sunday in Lent (Year A) This sermon was preached at Christ Episcopal Church Eureka on Sunday March 22, 2026. “Well, everything dies, baby, that’s a fact / But maybe everything that dies someday comes back.” These are lyrics from the song “Atlantic City” by Bruce Springsteen, whose biopic I watched as I flew […]

Seeing Christ’s Healing Power in Sister Earth

Readings for the Fourth Sunday in Lent – Laetare Sunday (Year A) This sermon was preached at St. James Episcopal Church in Florence, Italy on Sunday March 15, 2026. It’s a joy and honor for me to be worshipping with you and preaching here at St. James in Florence among fellow Episcopalians! I’m grateful to Father […]

Listening to the Wind and the Silence with Nicodemus

Readings for the Second Sunday in Lent (Year A) This sermon was preached at Christ Episcopal Church Eureka on Sunday March 1, 2026. During these Sundays in Lent, we will be reading passages from the Gospel of John that each invite us to engage with one of our five senses. John’s Gospel emphasizes the mystery of the […]

Sensual Asceticism

Readings for the First Sunday in Lent (Year A) This sermon was preached at Christ Episcopal Church Eureka on Sunday February 22, 2026. There’s a scene in C. S. Lewis’s science fiction book Perelandra in which the hero of the space novel named Ransom travels from Earth to a Paradise-like planet named Perelandra. There we watch him […]

The Mysterious Conversion of St. Francis

Readings for Ash Wednesday Isaiah 58:1-12 Psalm 103 2 Corinthians 5:20b-6:10 Matthew 6:1-6, 16-21 This homily was preached at Christ Episcopal Church in Eureka CA on Ash Wednesday, February 18, 2026. Your Father who sees what is done in secret will reward you. Ha pater sou ha blepon en to krypto apodosei soi. Your Father (pater) who sees […]

Thomas Merton & Anglicanism

“The best of Anglicanism is unexcelled” – Thomas Merton Thomas Merton was baptized Anglican, grew up Episcopalian, and later became perhaps the most influential Christian mystic of the 20th century, whose writings and spirituality still inspire Episcopalians and Anglicans today. Baptized in the Church of England while living in France and raised in the Episcopal […]